"But that's not measurable!"...it's almost inevitable that this phrase will come up at some point when we're helping one of our clients build scorecards and cascade performance measures.
It happens while we're discussing how a particular area supports an organizational goal. Typically, everyone involved will decide that a new objective should be on that area's scorecard. But when it comes to selecting the best way to measure progress toward said goal, the "not measurable" objection comes out.
If you're involved in building scorecards or helping your organization select performance metrics or KPIs, you've probably run into this issue as well.
Of course the objection tends to arise when something new is being brought to the scorecard. If it's never been measured before, it might be because it seems too "big" or a little too "fluffy" to measure.
1. What are you specifically trying to impact or change?
2. Let’s pretend you’ve already reached that goal -- what would be different?
3. How will not reaching this goal impact other departments?
4. How will you know when you you’ve reached this goal?
5. How would you convince your boss that you’ve reached this goal?
It happens while we're discussing how a particular area supports an organizational goal. Typically, everyone involved will decide that a new objective should be on that area's scorecard. But when it comes to selecting the best way to measure progress toward said goal, the "not measurable" objection comes out.
If you're involved in building scorecards or helping your organization select performance metrics or KPIs, you've probably run into this issue as well.
Of course the objection tends to arise when something new is being brought to the scorecard. If it's never been measured before, it might be because it seems too "big" or a little too "fluffy" to measure.
So how do you get past this objection and come up with a measure that will make sense to all involved (and will help you track progress toward achieving your strategic goal)?
Ask yourself and/or your team these questions:1. What are you specifically trying to impact or change?
2. Let’s pretend you’ve already reached that goal -- what would be different?
3. How will not reaching this goal impact other departments?
4. How will you know when you you’ve reached this goal?
5. How would you convince your boss that you’ve reached this goal?
By talking through these questions, we almost always come up with a measure and/or improvement initiative that makes sense, drives the right behavior, and can be effectively tracked on the scorecard.
So the next time you’re working hard with your team, and someone says, “we have to do this initiative, but there’s no good way to measure it,” try using these five questions. It should help your team be more specific in their word choices and help identify good measures for some of those more challenging objectives or projects.
And don't just put these away once your scorecards and metrics are cascaded. These same questions can be used effectively during scorecard-based Business Review sessions as well, as teams are formulating initiatives for under-performing measures.
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